Dino Digest: Fluffy Dinosaurs & Baby Pterosaurs

Welcome to the latest edition of the Dino Digest. On the science side of things, we can share details about a type of bird-like dinosaur which was far fluffier than we had ever imagined as well as new evidence which suggests that pterosaurs (the flying reptiles which ruled the skies while dinosaurs roamed the land) actively cared for their young. There’s plenty of cool pop culture stuff too, as we confirm two new types of new dinosaur which will appear in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, as well as looking at some great looking dinosaur toys which will be released in 2018 – let the fun commence!

Dinosaurs Were Even Fluffier Than Birds

While it has been known for quite some time that many dinosaur species had feathers, their exact forms and functions aren’t all that well understood. A new study from the University of Bristol has shed some light on how feathered dinosaurs would have appeared in life. As suspected by many in the palaeontological community, different types of dinosaurs had different styles of feathers, with some possessing particularly ‘fluffy’ plumage which would have made them look quite a bit different from how their skeletons would suggest.

One 150 million year old Jurassic dinosaur featured in the study, Anchiornis huxleyi, was exceptionally fuzzy, with feathers even more fluffy than those which we see in modern birds. However, unfortunately for Anchiornis, such feathers weren’t all that good at keeping the creature warm, nor were they water-resistant or particularly helpful in terms of flying. To compensate, Anchiornis had four wings and extra layers of feathers. It is believed that Anchiornis was not much of a glider though, and certainly couldn’t fly, so what exactly it was using all of this fluff for is something of a mystery.

The Great Pterosaur Baby Mystery Solved?

While dinosaurs such as Anchiornis were struggling to get off the ground, the pterosaurs had already mastered powered flight. These strange reptiles have always puzzled paleontologists. Up until quite recently, virtually nothing was known about their young. In fact, we weren’t even fully certain that they laid eggs until 2004. Thankfully though, an incredible discovery dating back to early Cretaceous China (about 120 million years ago) has provided insight into the early lives of pterosaurs. A treasure trove of between 200 and 300 eggs belonging to the pterosaur Hamipterus tianshanensis has given us evidence that pterosaurs nested in groups, as well as some insights as to how their chicks developed.

The pterosaur embryos found appeared to be close to hatching and show signs that their wings had not developed as well as their legs, leading Wang Xiaolin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology to state that, “We conclude that [baby] pterosaurs, at least Hamipterus, can walk on the ground, but not fly in the sky”. Not everyone agrees with Wang’s sentiment though. Fellow paleontologist Mark Witton told Nature, “These animals would weigh just a few grams when hatched, and almost certainly didn’t need crisply sculpted, well-ossified wing bones to fly. Cartilage would be strong enough”.

Wang (and associates)’ paper on the Hamipterus tianshanensis eggs and embryos can be read on Science Mag.

Baryonyx to Appear In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

While we didn’t get a Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom trailer in the past week (as was predicted by many), not one but two new dinosaurs were confirmed to appear in the upcoming blockbuster movie. Universal have taken out patents for something called an ‘Indoraptor’, which will presumably be some kind of new hybrid dinosaur similar to Jurassic World‘s Indominus rex, but smaller. Perhaps more interesting though, is the confirmation that Baryonyx, a relative of Spinosaurus, which preyed on fish as well as other dinosaurs, will at last make its first proper appearance in the Jurassic Park movie universe.

Baryonyx could be considered a somewhat unlucky dinosaur from a Jurassic Park perspective in that it has nearly appeared in three Jurassic movies. Having been on the original “Ingen’s List”, it featured in brochures for the first Jurassic Park film as well as Jurassic World and was replaced by Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3 well into the film’s production. It does however, get a mention in JP3 when Billy is trying to figure out what kind of dinosaur the Spinosaurus is. His first guess was Suchomimus, a very close relative of Baryonyx, but when Grant tells him to “Think bigger’ he guesses Baryonyx, which is odd seeing as Suchomimus was bigger than Baryonyx, not to mention the fact that the Spinosaurus had a friggin’ sail on its back – and he calls himself a paleontologist?

While yet to appear in a Jurassic Park film, Baryonyx has popped up in numerous video game spin-offs and adaptations, including Warpath and The Lost World on the original PlayStation console. There have also been a few Baryonyx toys produced down through the years, with one in particular being among the most bizarre Jurassic Park toys ever created.

New Papo Dinosaurs For 2018

Speaking of toys, just as we previewed some of CollectA’s upcoming dinosaur models for 2018 in last week’s Dino Digest, we’ve started to see images of Papo’s upcoming prehistoric creature models as well. The three to really make waves are Acrocantosaurus atokensis, Quetalcoatlus northropi and Compsognathus longipes. All of these models are fantastically detailed and should prove to be highly sought after by dinosaur toy collectors. Click on the below gallery to get a better view of these neat models:

Acrocanthosaurus atokensis

Quetzalcoatlus nothropi

Compsognathus longiceps

The Acrocathosaurus (one of our cooler versions of your favourite dinosaurs) is a repaint of the previously released Papo model, but most will agree that the new colour scheme is a big improvement. The new Quetzalcoatlus is stunning, and really captures just how utterly horrible these giant pterosaurs actually were (they feature as one of the nastier antagonists in Ethan Pettus’ novel, Primitive War). Personally, I am a little bit disappointed with the Compsognathus, seeing as it is clearly based off the design used in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which is far from scientifically accurate. Still though, movie fans will no doubt be keen to add the model to their collections.

That’s all from this week’s Dino Digest. Barring some form of massive volcanic eruption, we’ll be back next week with more Mesozoic miscellany. If you can’t wait that long for your dinosaur fix, be sure to give my Facebook page a follow and see what goodies I post up there during the week or explore Geek Ireland’s dinosaur archives for more articles about everybody’s favourite subject. Geek Ireland will also be publishing a dinosaur-themed Christmas gift guide this week, so stay tuned!

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About The Author

Sean is Geek Ireland's resident dinosaur enthusiast, having been fascinated by prehistory since a time before he could read, speak or stand in an upright position (he still struggles to do at least one of these things on a daily basis).
Known as one of the biggest dinosaur fans Ireland has ever produced, Sean has delivered talks on his favourite subject at many venues and events including the Irish Film Institute, the UCD Science Expression Festival, Tayto Park, Dublin Comic Con and even London's Comedy Store.

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we're banking on this being the best

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we’re banking on this being the best gaming event in Ireland during 2018!